Whereas those movies attempted to be "edgy" and simply ended up sludgy — not to mention gray, lifeless, and humorless — Wonder Woman is a thing of hope and beauty; it'll give you a lump in your throat and make you want to cheer.

Director Jenkins may be vaguely familiar to movie fans as the woman who directed Charlize Theron to an Oscar in Monster (2003). Jenkins has not made a theatrical film since then, and so this resurrection is doubly satisfying.

Gal Gadot plays the title character, introduced as a distant third banana in Batman v. Superman. In the present day, she examines a century-old photo of herself, and flashes back to her story.

She was born Diana on Paradise Island, among the amazons, the daughter of the queen (Connie Nielsen). Young Diana watches the women warriors train — with no man around to tell them they can't — and she wishes to do the same. Her mother objects, but her aunt (Robin Wright) secretly agrees.

Years later, a dashing, roguish World War One pilot, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash lands on the island, alerting Diana to the vast troubles in the real world. Following her destiny to vanquish the God of War, Aries, she joins Steve in the real world to do just that.

Steve, meanwhile, has a smaller mission; he joins with his international band of misfits — Said Taghmaoui, Ewen Bremner, and Eugene Brave Rock — to stop a German general (Danny Huston) and an evil chemist (Elena Anaya) from poisoning the world with a deadly new gas.

Diana sees the humans with genuine wonder and empathy, wishing to help and ease suffering everywhere. She understands that, despite everything, each person is beautiful. It's a simple, brave message that seems needed at this moment.

In her performance, Gadot captures what Christopher Reeve's Superman and Chris Evans's Captain America had: a special kind of humble displacement and appealing innocence.

At the same time, she full of flash and dazzle, and flat-out amazing. Her action sequences are choreographed gorgeously, fluidly, designed to be clearly seen and enjoyed, like a badass ballet.

This fall, the boys are back with a new Justice League movie, but for now, DC is sitting pretty with Wonder Woman.